7 Downsides of Raised Bed Gardening

Let me know how you guys feel about gardening in raised beds!

It took a lot of money and work, but we're finally able to enjoy our raised bed gardens. I love this way of gardening.

Woah woah woah!! Raised beds saved my sanity. I could not do the battle of the damned Bermuda grass after a broken ankle. My kids brought in three small raised beds because they saw how sad I was without my gardens to grow in. Since then We’ve built four more and Id love to fill in the entire back yard with them, but my dogs need somewhere to 💩.

So when we lived in central NY, my husband built 12 raised beds, 20X4' out of plain concrete blocks and built it 2 blocks high. We were able to get seconds from the supplier, so they were even cheaper. We didn't grout them, just dry stacked. Not terribly decorative, but that didn't really matter because they were filled with beautiful vegetables, flowers and fruit. Yes, they shifted a little over time, but nothing we couldn't deal with. It was great to have a place to sit on the bed while planting, weeding and harvesting or just to have a cup of tea and I could plant in the holes for even more production. We did really luck out with filling them - had a friend with almost unlimited amounts of horse manure that had been aging in the fields for 7yrs+, so my crops got to grow in pure compost and I hardly ever used fertilizer, even many years later, and the beds were very productive. When we visited our old place a couple of years ago, the neighbors that bought it had torn down the 150 yo house (that was terrible to see) but were still planting in the old beds, some 30 years+ after they were built and didn't look like they had added any soil. Leaving those beds behind was actually harder when we moved to Colorado than leaving the house. Now we are using 3X8/10' stock tanks which do get very hot in the summer, cold in the winter and very hydrophilic if we don't water consistently - they got very dry finally last year - felt fine on top, but 6 inches down was like concrete - and we had to do a total refresh in the fall on most of the beds, digging them out, adding potting soil, compost, perlite and vermiculite, then watering really well and mulching heavily. We originally did logs/sticks to fill the tanks about halfway and then regular soil from a landscaping company -- it was a lot cheaper than the other mixes, but ultimately a bad choice for our raised beds. This year am keeping up better with the watering and testing for moisture with a meter down to about a foot deep and so far, so good. We did plant a new asparagus bed directly in the ground because the ones in the tanks were not doing well, even after 5 yrs, I think because of the soil moisture problems and the freezing in the tanks in the winter. But doing the raised stuff mostly now because of our solid clay/rocks in most of the yard here on the side of mountain and just can't bend over much or be on my knees anymore. Hope this long post helps someone.

This is my first year with a raised bed and so far I love it! I have struggled so long growing in the ground because of the clay dirt here. I'm not able to till the ground and add stuff to it. And then the weeds and bugs and other critters just ruin it all if I do manage to get something producing. This year I was determined, so I built a 6x6 bed out of wood, I put landscape cloth on the bottom to help deter weeds and bugs from making their way through. Then I made a frame around the whole thing, 6 feet high from the ground, so i could cover that with bug netting. This is partly to keep the rabbits and deer from eating everything. I open it during the day to let pollinators in, then cover it at night. I'm keeping a close watch on the beetles. If they get to be a problem, I will keep it closed all day and hand pollinate. It doesn't keep everything out, but most. Down the center I created a trellis for sugar baby watermelons to grow on. They are absolutely thriving! All the plants in there are, and I'm so happy I finally did this. Next year I will build another, with some changes. Yes, it's expensive to fill, but it's not a yearly expense. I know I will have to build up the soil level every year and amend it, but that won't be near the initial cost. What I'll do differently next time.... I will make inset frames that I will attach the bug netting or screening to, so I can just open and close as needed to access or let bees in. I'll add this to my current setup next year too. Some 2x2's will work well enough, some hinges and an eye hook for good measure. The other thing I'll do differently is really only possible once I have more beds. And that is to space them out better. Maybe watermelons will have a bed of their own, or have some smaller plants at the edges of them. I didn't know how well these plants would thrive and it is very crowded in there! I have 5 tomato plants, 4 Zucchini (tied to stakes), 6 or 7 watermelon plants on the trellis, 6 pepper plants. I put some carrots and chamomile seeds after I transplanted the other plants, but I only see a few sprouts, so I'm not sure where I went wrong there. And the last thing I'd do differently is to not make it 6x6! I did it that way because I was trying to avoid cutting any wood. But boy is it hard to reach the center! The next ones will be no more than 4 feet wide. Maybe I'll do 6x3, so I just have to cut 6 foot boards in half for 2 sides. I do water every day because we've had very little rain. I'm not growing these plants too save money necessarily. I'm growing them because it's far superior to what I can get at the store, and I know there are no pesticides! Plus, it's so rewarding. Nothing beats a home grown tomato, and even better when it's my home 😊

I am right there with you Brian on the raised bed issues. I am so sick of them. I have 1 wooden and 2 metal ones and I just got so fed up that I didn't bother adding more soil to any of them this year. Last year I made 2 "raised" beds that are inground but just a little higher than the area around them. And I also just added cardboard and threw 2-3 inches of good soil on top of a new area and they are doing far better than the actual raised beds lol.

It's raised bed gardening ALL THE WAY for us!!! We LOVE it!! Also, we have mostly those gorgeous Vego metal containers, that are supposed to last for a long, long time. We bought them a few at a time, and always on sale or with a coupon code. They are quick and easy to put together, and we've had one for three years, and it still looks brand new! We found it much cheaper to buy a truckload of good dirt to fill them. We also have some animal feed tubs, and a few old cattle watering tubs, which also work great. We installed an auto drip system, and never have to water. There is virtually no weeding, and we get tons of vegetables! Everyone comments on how beautiful our gardens are. You could not pay me to go back to those beds in the ground, that are full of ugly grass and weeds, plus a ton of back-breaking work constantly!

Love the above ground gardens . I have many and it's much better than my clay soil . Easy to water also

Love my raised beds, makes a beautiful, structured garden and they are easier to garden in for so many reasons.

We are quite successful using raised bed gardens.

I love raised beds!

I used to garden in a 1,000 sq. ft. "dirt" plot. I had no end of issues with weeds, animals, excess rain, no rain, and multiple soil fungi, pathogens and crazy pH.. Now that I'm forced to grow in bags, life is so much easier because almost all parameters are controllable. The "soil" is good quality sterilized potting mix with composted cow manure and fish waste, as well as coconut fiber added for moisture retention but good drainage, maintaining near perfect water conditions. It's made a remarkable improvement in repeatable great results, since I can closely monitor soil pH and amend as needed. For fertilizer, I do quite well with yeast/honey/milk solutions at 2-week intervals. No chemical fertilizer at all. A little gypsum for calcium permanently ended my blossom-end rot on tomatoes and peppers. At seedling plant-out I put a handful of FoxFarm Ocean Forest mix with micro-nutrients in the hole, and that's it. Enough produce on a 12 foot deck with 20 bags to fill the freezer. I re-use the soil every year after screening with only the addition of some more composted manure. If I had any blight fungus at all (very rare) I spray the soil with Hydrogen Peroxide full 3% strength as I screen it.

Hi Brian…I have gardened with raised beds for years. I switched to in-ground this year with better than ever results…my plants are very happy and so am I. I’m here in San Diego, too.

I've done both and my saving grace is that 1. I have found materials at lower costs to build my beds as it was leftover from previous projects. 2 I buy my soil each year by the pickup truck load locally. It rubs about $30 per load and that fills my full sized truck bed. Yes, I have several raised beds and have to top them all off each spring, but it beats tilling my native soil that is loaded with rocks. I've broken so many rototiller blades due to the huge amount of rock in the ground here. Plus, I have back issues and the local wildlife that will eat anything I grow, so raised beds with attached fencing is my go to. Totally agree on the drying out. My garden would be a goner without timers and soaker hoses and I live in the humid Southeast.

That's the only way I've garden using raised beds for over 20 years, some wood some metal but either way I Love them, I agree with you but I'm still sticking with my raised beds

My struggle with raised beds is getting the soil quality right. I’ve bought many bags of a variety of mixes and used my own compost but often plants seem to struggle.

I am in a situation where raised beds & containers and I love my raised beds. Took a few years to build up a very good & healthy productive soil. Also, I get almost zero pest pressure, I don't think I would grow in ground even if I could.

For 40 years, I only had inground beds with 1'x1' concrete tiles as my pathways, which have been sinking and sinking. After 40 years of adding a layer my compost, the beds started looking like fresh dug graves. With every heavy rain shower or storm, my concrete pathways got covered with mud and became dangerously slippery. I was constantly scraping off the mud. Last year, shortly after I planted my seedlings, I saw that metal bed frames of various sizes were on sale. I bought three of them. I simply placed them on my existing soft beds and pushed the the frames in a bit. I am still gardening in the existing, organic-material-rich deep soil. Now, I have more head room to add more compost. I still deep-dig and turn the soil over with a spade in the Fall, but in the Spring, I just perk it up with the biggest hoe that I could find. With the metal frames, my garden looks more neat/organized and my pathways stay clean/safe.

San Diego soil is obviously not garden ground friendly. My raised bed has chicken wire under it as well. And now I have squirrels, so I enclosed it. Now the tunneling squirrels are have found a way in via the neighbors fence. The struggle is real.

I have galvanized raised beds and I line them, bottom and sides, with heavy felted landscape fabric. So far it's been working great.